Game having target areas and pieces to be blown toward these areas

ABSTRACT

A game includes a game board having variously shaped target areas thereon and light-weight, variously shaped, game pieces which are placed on the game board and upon which puffs of air are directed by participants. Participants&#39;&#39; skills are directed according to rules of the game toward causing the game pieces to jump through the air and come to rest within the target areas.

United States Patent [151 3,66 1,389 Harris et al. 51 May 9, 1972 GAME HAVING TARGET AREAS AND References Cited PIECES TO BE BLOWN TOWARD UNITED STATES PATENTS THESE AREAS 2,850,280 9/1958 Lemelson ..273/95 D 2,946,592 7/1960 P05! .273/137 AB [721 Rwe 69; 2,659,163 11 1953 Albec ..35 22 A Joyce W. Boone, Route 4, PO. Box 311; All n Thofllas, 1717 Westwood Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham A n 0f WllSOn, NC 27893 Assistant E.\'aminer--Marvin Siskind 22 Filed: Feb. 9, 1971 [2!] App]. No.: 113,893 [57] ABSTRACT A game includes a game board having variously shaped target 52 us. c1 ..273 95 c, 273/137 R, 273/106 R areas thereon and light-Weigh" variously Shaped game Pieces [51] Int Cl A63) 63/00 which are placed on the game board and upon which puffs of Fie'ld 6 R 137 R air are directed by participants. Participants skills are 273/137 AB,102 R, 10!; 35/22 directed according to rules of the game toward causing the game pieces to jump through the air and come to rest within the target areas.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 SHEET 1 0F 2 FIG. 5

INVENTORS Thomas L. Harris Joycrz W. Boone BY Allan G. Thomas ATTORNEY FIG. 3

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SHEET 2 OF 2 PA'TENTEDMAY 9 I972 FIG.

1N VEN I ()RS Thomas L Harris Joyce W, Boone Allen (5. Thomas ATTORNEY PUFF BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l Field of the Invention This invention relates to games in which a certain skill of the participants is required. More particularly, this invention relates to games of skill utilizing the pressure of the human breath to propel stationary and difierent shaped game pieces through the air and into target areas on the game board.

2. Description of the Prior Art Games are known in which light-weight game pieces, such as balls, are propelled toward targets by streams of air from the human breath such as in US. Pat. No. 2,850,283. Also, rings are moved onto target stems by puffs of air from hand manipulated blowpipes such'as in US. Pat. No. 3,527,462. None of these games however require the precise and varied skills needed for propelling of different shape games pieces through the air and into a garget area on the game board. Furthermore, most of the known games of this kind are limited by the structure of the game apparatus to just a few modes of play and just a few players. This invention provides a game which allows both participation by several players and numerous varieties of playing mode.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The game of the invention comprises a plurality of small panlike game pieces and a game board with a corresponding configuration of target areas. Each game piece has a relatively large side with a substantially flat surface surrounded by relatively small sides substantially perpendicular thereto so as to form a pan-like depression. The game board target areas in one embodiment correspond in shape to the game pieces and in another embodiment to dissimilar shapes. The game piece to be played is placed on the game board with the depression exposed to view outside the periphery of the target area and a putt of the players breath is directed into the depression against a portion of the side walls causing the game piece to flip into the air away from the player. Variously shaped game pieces require different amounts of puff as do the distances to be traveled from stationary game piece to target and in this way the player is challenged to develop, by practice, a skill in selecting and executing the correct puff for any given play. Also the shape and location of the target area is chosen to present a variety of unique play situations.

An object of the invention is to provide various shaped game pieces to which puffs of human breath can be directed and which pieces are configured so as to react to said puffs differently and sometimes unpredictably by jumping or flipping into the air in a forwardly directed trajectory.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a game easily played by children as well as adults, by persons with handicaps preventing their enjoyment of conventional games of skill and by invalids.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a game in which the uniqueness of the game piece shapes enables the game board to be any of numerous configurations with various shaped and located targets thereon while retaining in each case a game requiring a high degree of skill.

Other objects will appear as the description proceeds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of four of the variously shaped game pieces showing in each piece a substantially closed-wall structure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same four game pieces taken from the opposite side and showing for each piece a pan-like depression.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a first of many possible game board configurations.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a second of many possible game board configurations.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the typical reaction of a game piece to a puff of human breath and showing a target area on a cut-away portion of a game board.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention comprises variously shaped light-weight game pieces as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a game board which may be any of numerous configurations, two examples being shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The game pieces ll, 12, 13 and 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are light in weight so as to be suitable for puffing over when the puff of a human breath is directed at same from a distance of an inch or two away. Sheet aluminum of approximately one thirty-second inch thickness has been found to be a suitable material for this purpose. The game pieces may be made from the aluminum sheeting by first cutting a shape therefrom, e. g. a triangle, rectangle, diamond, octagonal (to simulate a circular shape) etc. and placing cuts within the shape appropriate for bending a quarter inch width of the extremities of the shape to a position perpendicular to the remainder thereof. This will result in an open pan-like arrangement bearing the configuration of the shape first cut from the aluminum sheeting. Alternatively, the game pieces may be made of molded plastic in accordance with the well known plastic molding art. Viewed from one side the variously shaped game pieces appear as in FIG. 1 revealing a substantially closed-wall structure and viewed from the other side they appear as in FIG. 2 revealing a pan-like depression or open container-like structure. Wall length may vary. In one embodiment, the triangle is equilateral and of approximately three-fourths inch length, the diameter of the octagon (i.e. approximate circular shape) is three-fourths inch across, the diamond side is approximately three-fourths inch long, and the rectangle sides are approximately three-fourths and one-half inch.

The game board 15 is substantially flat and smooth and typically contains a target area 24 as shown in FIG. 5 which may be of various values such as those target areas 21, 22 and 23 denominated and those target areas 24 denominated 200in FIG. 3. Preferably the target areas are flat and integral with the game board having boundaries, numbers or designations of value printed on the game board so as not to interfere with the motion of the game pieces. However, the target areas may be depressions or inclined elevations or the like of various shapes so as to vary the difficulty of play and the puffing skill required of the player. Alternatively, the game board may have omitted therefrom a target area into which the game pieces'are puffed and may have instead a defined area out of which the game pieces are puffed either individually or in multiples, according to the rules adopted, such as those areas 25 labelled PUF F" in FIG. 4.

In operation, according to one set of rules that may be adopted for the game board of FIG. 3, a player places a first game piece such as 12 outside of the correspondingly shaped target area 21 and attempts to puff over the piece 12 into area 21 without touching the boundary lines of area 21. If he succeeds, he continues in turn with pieces 11, 14, 13 and areas 22, 23 and 24. His skill may be rewarded by play money corresponding in amount to that printed within the target areas for each of the target areas into which he successfully puffs a game piece. If he successfully puffs over all four pieces in turn he may be rewarded with a card representing a piece of real estate. The object of the game is to win all the money and real estate, the two being interchangeable during the course of play. In play, the game piece to be played is placed on the game board but outside the target area boundaries with its pan-like depression exposed and a puff of the players breath is directed into the depression against a portion of the side walls which causes the game piece to flip into the air along a trajectory pointing towards the target area. Substantial game interest is provided by the use of pan-like game pieces of different size and shape since a puff skill developed for one piece does not necessarily work with another piece.

In operation, according to another set of rules that may be adopted for the game board of FIG. 4, a player places any two game pieces into area 25 and attempts to simultaneously puff both out of the area. If successful, he is rewarded with game pieces from other players and from the Jackpot. If he blows over only one, he gets another attempt to puff over the remaining one and if successful he gets to keep his two pieces. The game pieces that fail to go over are otherwise forfeited to the Jackpot with the game objective geing to win all of the playing pieces. Such rules are of course, only exemplary and may be defined in much more detail and in other forms. For example, the rules may define in detail the penalty or reward when a particular shaped piece falls completely within or only partially within a target of similar shape.

While the invention has been described and shown with respect to a certain preferred example which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the concept of providing various shaped game pieces to give different reactions to puffs of air may be embodied in the game forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. A skilled player will also develop various angular directions of puffing and ways of flipping and lifting the game piece with his pufi of breath. It will also be noted that the concept of providing certain target shapes to correspond with similar game piece shapes and of using game piece shapes other than those shown also offers much opportunity for variety in the form of the invention. While primarily intended for use with puffs of air produced by mouth the game pieces may of course be adapted to be moved with blowpipes and the like.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A game comprising a game board having a substantially flat and smooth surface containing at least one target area defined by boundaries wholly within the outer extremities of the game board and a plurality of game pieces shaped in varying geometric configurations each being formed of a substantially light weight material having a flat bottom wall of predetermined shape and an integral substantially closed side wall extending perpendicularly from the periphery of said bottom wall, said walls forming a shallow, hollowed interior portion, said game pieces being adapted when resting on said bottom wall to receive a puff of air generated by a player in the proximity thereof and at an appropriate angle to cause the game piece to assume a flipping motion towards said target area.

2. A game according to claim 1 wherein said game board having a plurality of separately defined areas corresponding to said target area thereby forming a plurality of target areas at least some of which correspond in shape to the shape of some of said game pieces.

3. A game according to claim 1 wherein said game board has a plurality of separately defined areas corresponding to said target area and having a plurality of game pieces of said varying geometric configurations.

4. A game according to claim 2 wherein said game pieces are formed of aluminum sheet and the puff of air to which said game pieces are adapted comprises a puff such as produced by mouth. 

1. A game comprising a game board having a substantially flat and smooth surface containing at least one target area defined by boundaries wholly within the outer extremities of the game board and a plurality of game pieces shaped in varying geometric configurations each being formed of a substantially light weight material having a flat bottom wall of predetermined shape and an integral substantially closed side wall extending perpendicularly from the periphery of said bottom wall, said walls forming a shallow, hollowed interior portion, said game pieces being adapted when resting on said bottom wall to receive a puff of air generated by a player in the proximity thereof and at an appropriate angle to cause the game piece to assume a flipping motion towards said target area.
 2. A game according to claim 1 wherein said game board having a plurality of separately defined areas corresponding to said target area thereby forming a plurality of target areas at least some of which correspond in shape to the shape of some of said game pieces.
 3. A game according to claim 1 wherein said game board has a plurality of separately defined areas corresponding to said target area and hAving a plurality of game pieces of said varying geometric configurations.
 4. A game according to claim 2 wherein said game pieces are formed of aluminum sheet and the puff of air to which said game pieces are adapted comprises a puff such as produced by mouth. 